the Fruits of , ifdom. 163 forfake all thofe things, that we íhould S E It M. praêtife religious virtue for its own fake, on VI. the account of its own amiable excellence, `'Y-4 and with a view to our obtaining the favour of God, beholding his face in righteoufnefs, and being fatisfied with his likenefs. But the principal ufe we ought to make of the doftrine as it hath been explained, is to remove an objeétion or a prejudice men have againft religion, apprehending it to be contrary to their intereft in this world ; to Phew the folly of the covetous and ambiti- ous, and the unreafonablenefs of the grounds men generally go upon in their purfuit of riches and honour. It is thought that con - fcience ftandeth in the way of wealth as an obftacle, and that to be good and virtuous, is the way to be poor and defpifed. It is fo, I acknowledge, fometimes ; fo it was in the firft ages of chriftianity, and always in a state of perfecution ; and in that cafe the faithful fervants of Chrift mull forfake the unrighteous Mammon, nay forfake all their lawful worldly interefts, and even hate their own lives, that they may cleave to their mailer, and preferve their integrity. Betides, it it not to be thought that the profefon and the practice of true religion will exempt men from the common calamities of this M z world,
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